Mastering... The Beginning.

[Aka Nameless]

I'de like to hear how all of the Mastering Engineers got into this game, and at what point did you feel confident in charging for your services?

I actually stumbled into the mastering world one day when I went to a friend from work's studio. I had been playing guitar and writing lyrics for a good 10 years and I had been learning the art of recording/mixing for a little over a year at that point, so when I went to his studio, I was eager to learn some new recording/mixing tricks...

When I arrived he gave me a quick tour of his studio, then he said he had to finish up mastering an album and that I may find the process interesting. So we went to his little mastering room, a 9' x 9' box with auralex "I know, I know.." covering the walls, a desk "creation station from guitar center" near the middle of the room, 2 chairs, and the heart of the room, a pair of BM6A's, and Hafler amp.. I think it was a P3000. I asked why he had no analog gear in this room, and he said that the signal goes through enough analog gear in the recording stage. I bought it, it was my first mastering experience after all.

So he gets to mastering the album, he was mostly done with the album, but he gave me a quick run through of the process. I don't know what it was, but somewhere between the eq and the fading I was hooked...

Since that day, to learn the Mastering trade was what I wanted. I have read Mr. Katz' book 3 or 4 times (that book is very hard to shallow first pass), read every other book that talks about mastering in any way, done countless hours of research on the internet about mastering, or more importantly the differences of using eq, comp, etc. on the stereo mix, instead of on individual instruments.

So now, present day, I have been practicing Mastering for a solid 2 years. Have amassed a good ammount of equipment(Lavry Black, Wavelab 5, JBL LSR4328's "got a very good deal, $500 for a brand new pair", Waves Platinum Bundle, and a treated room. I'm lacking in the Monitoring Department, I know..

Now back to my original question, when did you know you were ready to charge for your services? I am confident with my mastering, but I don't want other ME's looking at me like i'm scamming people because I don't have top notch gear yet (my speakers are lacking). For the record I will be charging $25 a song in the beginning, thinking of starting very soon..

Sorry for being so long winded, it's my curse. Will be great to hear everyone's opinion on this subject. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I'm posting this over at PSW mastering forums also, hope its not against forum etiquette.

[Nancy M]

Personnally, I mastered for close to 14 years prior to going on my own.

I was at Electrosound on staff doing remasters for tape of various artists, Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson, Nazareth, Steve Miller band, etc That led to a decade at Disney overseeing and mastering many many projects. I was so lucky to have worked with Bernie, Eddie and many many more. I opened Moonlight when I was at Disney and mastered projects at night. Stayed at Disney for almost 2 years for a structured paycheck, and then had enough clients to earn a living with out the big ears attached (not mine of course ).

So that's how long it was for me, and now we're in our 8th year of operation.

Nancy Matter
Moonlight Mastering

[MASSIVE Master]

I was C.E. at the JEM Music Complex (Chicago) when I basically got "thrown in" head first by the owner of the parent company... "We need to be able to provide production masters in-house" and yada yada.

I normally attended client's mastering sessions - Built up relationships with some engineers, picked up a few things here and there -

Then one day, the owner shows up with the RM of Guitar Center with a few cartons in hand...

Long story short, by the time he left, we were able to perform "mastering" (although at the time I attempted to coin the phrase "half-asstering") in-house. Boy, those CD-R's were expensive back then... Burn a coaster and cancel the pizza - You're eating Ramen that night...

Blah blah, studio gets sold, yada, yada, stayed on as an engineer, blah, blah, essentially turned into the "house" M.E. after a while (although the rig was much less than "mastering quality" by any stretch), yada, yada, studio moved 40 miles away and I started out on my own.

Still do most of the mastering for the new owner to this day...

[Bob Olhsson]

I was taught vinyl mastering at Motown in the '60s and first tackled digital mastering during the late '80s at Hearts of Space Records. In between I did a lot of recording and mixing. During that period I attended numerous mastering sessions with Doug Sax, Bernie Grundman and Bob Ludwig.

I think experience actually working at a label or assisting at a facility that serves labels is pretty important.

[Franco]

I was born in '72 but I like to think that if I were to have been born in the 50s, I would have started mastering vinyl, like the "OGs".

In the late 80s, I started tagging along with older friends of mine who were a very well-known DJ crew in Los Angeles and used to play at clubs like Florentine Gardens, etc. Because they were getting paid to do DJ gigs and wanted to put out records of their own, they paid for studio time and I loved to tag along and go with them to studio sessions around town.

I've never been the type who is too intimidated to ask questions from anyone, and when engineers would bark at me for asking something (which happened a lot) I would simply find someone else to ask. In 1990 I began making beats for myself on an Emax sampler and in '93 tracked my first demo at a studio on 2" Ampex tape. I think I got more of a learning experience from that session than anything, and was hooked onto recording and mixing since then.

In 97, I did my first "master" on a friends demo for free and it turned out decent. Other friends heard that and since then, I've been mastering friends' projects and expanding my knowledge (and gear) and in '02 I decided to do it for people I didn't know...for a fee, after I started getting people I've never met asking me to master their music based on projects I had worked on for other people. I've only had experience DJing, producing, recording mixing and ultimately mastering rap projects, so that's all I stick with.

"but I don't want other ME's looking at me like i'm scamming people because I don't have top notch gear yet "

I don't focus on that, because I don't bring other MEs into the equation. If someone who is paying me their hard-earned dough to master their music (which for me means a bit more than just getting the music to sound good) is happy with what I do, then that's what counts. I don't aim to please other MEs, basically, I aim to blow the socks off people who send me work and when that happens, I'm proud of what I do and tell myself I've earned it.

[MASSIVE Master]

Originally Posted by Aka Nameless

but I don't want other ME's looking at me like i'm scamming people because I don't have top notch gear yet

Most wouldn't consider that "scamming" anyone anyway -

Using gear lists and photos from other sites would piss people off though... It happens. A lot.

[Aka Nameless]

First of all, i'de like to thank everyone for their stories and opinions.

I love to hear stories of other ME's beginnings.

"If someone who is paying me their hard-earned dough to master their music (which for me means a bit more than just getting the music to sound good) is happy with what I do, then that's what counts. I don't aim to please other MEs, basically, I aim to blow the socks off people who send me work and when that happens, I'm proud of what I do and tell myself I've earned it." - Franco

Ya, I don't usually worry about other ME's opinions, unless i'm surrounded by them.. I respect the way you work, all ME's should work that way.

Thanks for the stories guys, keep em coming.

Colin

[dcollins]

Circa 1983 I was doing electronics full time but always had a fancy home stereo, was interested in recording and was a half-assed guitar player. A guy moves in next door and I start hanging out in his garage on weekends shooting the breeze as people do. Turns out he is the chief engineer for the 20th Century Fox scoring stage (Jim Walker). He asks if I have any experience laying out PC boards "I am an expert" I reply (never done it before).

So, I get a probably illegal non-union job on the stage laying out a PC board. The scoring mixer there is the great Armin Steiner, and we become friends as he has a Sinclair PC that he's having trouble with. At this point Armin and Bruce Botnick have started a company called Digital Magnetics to rent out Sony digital gear to mastering studios for the coming Compact Disc.

Around '84 I begin working at their new company, which basically involves going around to every mastering studio in Hollywood and babysitting the digital gear during the transfers. This was a good thing, as it turned out, because I was able to really get a look at how different studios approached their work. Bernie and Doug were really doing it right, imo.

Later, Digital Magnetics decides that they should get in on some of this mastering action (previously editing only) and put together a room that attracts Joe Gastwirt, then of Sony Records, to come do his mastering there. I sit in on many sessions with Joe and begin building custom A/D's, etc. as well as put together a system for Laser Disc mastering from 35mm mag.

Then later to A&M Studios in 1988 and to my own place in 2004

How the time flies!

DC

[Jerry Tubb]

Sometimes timing is everything...

Through the '70s & '80s I had developed a diverse musical background in, jazz guitar, analog recording, electronic music composition, & music education and eventually landed a job teaching guitar, music business,and basic recording courses at the jr. college level. At night I was playing guitar in nightclubs and doing some light studio work. After visiting my friend Ron Franklin in L.A. in the late '80s, I became fascinated with the relatively new field of digital editing, as Ron was working in audio post using an early prototype Dyaxis system.

In March 1990 I attended SXSW in Austin, toured a few studios, discussed digital editing with a few engineers, particularly Stuart Sullivan, and realized there was no digital editing or mastering facilty in in Austin, the much touted Music Capitol of Texas.

So I had a "vision", resigned from my cushy teaching job (call me crazy), my wife Diane and I moved to Austin, bought a DAW, and started Terra Nova. We were "first ones on the block" to offer our services, and demand was high, so we hit the ground running, and haven't let up in the ensuing 16 years. We were lucky being first, and have gotten to work with some really great people.

In the early years I worked mainly "in the box" renting a few choice pieces of analog gear when budgets would allow. Ironically as studios have become more digital over the years, we have become "more analog". In a chance meeting with Rupert Neve in the mid '90s, I was introduced as Austin's "digital mastering guy", to which he replied "Aha!... we should convert you to analog." I took his words to heart, and have added a few choice pieces of analog gear to our audio arsenal, every year.

JT

[Aka Nameless]

Great stories guys, seems the one thing I am missing is having a Mentor. You guys are secretly my Mentors, you've no idea how much i've learned from you guys (you know who you are).

Keep the stories comin'

Colin

[Ged Leitch]

Originally Posted by dcollins

Circa 1983 I was doing electronics full time but always had a fancy home stereo, was interested in recording and was a half-assed guitar player. A guy moves in next door and I start hanging out in his garage on weekends shooting the breeze as people do. Turns out he is the chief engineer for the 20th Century Fox scoring stage (Jim Walker). He asks if I have any experience laying out PC boards "I am an expert" I reply (never done it before).

So, I get a probably illegal non-union job on the stage laying out a PC board. The scoring mixer there is the great Armin Steiner, and we become friends as he has a Sinclair PC that he's having trouble with. At this point Armin and Bruce Botnick have started a company called Digital Magnetics to rent out Sony digital gear to mastering studios for the coming Compact Disc.

Around '84 I begin working at their new company, which basically involves going around to every mastering studio in Hollywood and babysitting the digital gear during the transfers. This was a good thing, as it turned out, because I was able to really get a look at how different studios approached their work. Bernie and Doug were really doing it right, imo.

Later, Digital Magnetics decides that they should get in on some of this mastering action (previously editing only) and put together a room that attracts Joe Gastwirt, then of Sony Records, to come do his mastering there. I sit in on many sessions with Joe and begin building custom A/D's, etc. as well as put together a system for Laser Disc mastering from 35mm mag.

Then later to A&M Studios in 1988 and to my own place in 2004

How the time flies!

DC

Great post Dave,

Very cool to read how you arrived where you are today!

[cerberus]

my professional background includes directing mastering sessions with ken hahn at the controls. i've worked with a few famous people. but ken is the best engineer i've ever worked with directly face to face. he's the only engineer i would trust with anything. i don't know bob ludwig or doug sax, so i don't know what the experience is like to work with them. the experience with ken is "quiet"... you can hear yourself think in that place. if i could afford to go there every time, i'd get exactly what i wanted every time.

oh also i appear in a ramones video as a "record producer", but i did not produce the ramones; the gig wasn't "quiet" at all, but it was fun...

jeff dinces

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally Posted by dcollins

...The scoring mixer there is the great Armin Steiner, and we become friends...

Armin, Doug, Bernie and Bob Ludwig are my main post Motown influences.

Armin was also one of our biggest inspirations at Motown and it was a thrill to hang out with him the few times I got to mix at Sound Labs after moving to California. Armin had the first 1" 8 track in LA so he was Motown's man when we needed to record there. Brenda Holloway's "Every Little Bit Hurts" was probably the biggest Motown hit Armin tracked.

Armin and Doug began hanging out at Radio Recorders. Bernie was the mastering guy at Specialty Records before Herb Alpert stole him.